EV Start-Up requires full company budget, cash flow and fund sourcing plan post SPAC

Issue:

Electric Vehicle Start Up company requires enterprise-wide global company budget, cash flow analysis, and funding requirements. CEO and Executive Chair assign Cornerstone Technical Solutions President, Chuck Russell to lead development and present to the company Board of Directors.

Implementation:

The newly public company had never developed an organization wide budget, cash flow analysis and fund sourcing plan that would form the base for Board decisions and discussions with potential additional investors. The overall budget needed to address the global development and launch of a new vehicle, the early global development of a second vehicle, the implementation of a global marketing, distribution and sales model, implementation of a asset-lean global manufacturing footprint and the on-boarding global team members and suppliers to support the initiatives

Cornerstone created a global cross functional/cross regional team to develop the assumptions and associated budget. As well, Cornerstone lead the financial planning and analysis team to provide assessments to the company leadership and Board. Alternative budget models and assumptions were presented to the management team addressing potential business and funding constraints. The company management approved the budget and this was presented to the Board along with recommendations for further budget thrifting and a required headcount reduction plan. Additionally, a new team was created to address the required funding and anticipated constraints.

The budget, cash flow and funding requirements was presented to the Board after 3 months of development and adopted. The recommendations for further budget reduction was approved including a requirement for a Zero Based Headcount Assessment that was assigned to Cornerstone for presentation to the Board in the Q2 of the same year.

Results:

1. The budget, cash flow and funding requirements for the company was completed on-time. It was a significant initiative for a young global company and it was recognized as a success by the Board of Directors.
   

2. After the plan was approved by the Board, it was provided to the new CFO for implementation
   

3. Unfortunately, funding constraints due to delays in mandatory financial reporting associated with internal and external investigations required significant adjustments to the budget during the year.